winter heliotrope

British  

noun

1. a creeping perennial, Petasites fragrans, related to the butterbur, having lilac to heliotrope coloured flowers smelling of vanilla: found chiefly on road verges

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Example Sentences

Petasites.—P. fragrans, the Winter Heliotrope, though of weedy habit, with ample cordate coltsfoot-like leaves, yields in January and February its abundant spikes, about 1 ft. high, of greyish flowers scented like heliotrope; it should have a corner to itself.

From Project Gutenberg

It blooms in the depth of winter—in fact, all winter; the flowers are not showy at all, but they are deliciously scented, whence the specific name fragrans and the common one "Winter Heliotrope," as resembling the scent of heliotrope.

From Project Gutenberg

Hudson first came on winter heliotrope in Cornwall, and was attracted by its meadow-sweet smell at a season when there were few other flowers, he was told by a countryman that it was called simply "weed."

From Project Gutenberg